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Submitted: 8/28/15 • Approved: 8/28/15 • Last Updated: 3/25/18 • R88276-G0-S3
GREENWOOD CEMETERY
Col. William H. Gaston, Civil War veteran and Dallas entrepreneur, and his banking partner W. H. Thomas purchased land from the John Cole family here in 1874 and opened Trinity Cemetery. In the earliest decades of settlement of Dallas County, many pioneer families had established family graveyards on their farms and a few rural churches also had created burial grounds. Dallas’ first “community” graveyards - the City, Odd Fellows and Masons and the Hebrew Benevolent Association cemeteries - were located near the growing city. (Portions of the city and Masons cemeteries remain adjacent to the Dallas Convention Center, the graves of the Hebrew burial grounds were moved in the 1950s to the Emanu-El Cemetery near here.)
Gaston’s and Thomas’ Trinity Cemetery was located two miles from the Courthouse downtown. It was remote, surrounded by the farms of several families, including the Thomases, Worthingtons, Overands and the huge Caruth farm to the north.
The first recorded burial at Trinity was Mrs. Susan Bradford in March 1875. Also in 1875 Gaston deeded five acres on the southwest side to the city for burial of the indigent, and such burials occurred there until 1910. W. H. Thomas himself was buried here following his death in 1879, as was John Thomas, the first chief justice (now called County Judge) of Dallas County. By 1896, although many prominent Dallas families had purchased lots and many burials had taken place, the cemetery had fallen into disrepair and neglect. A commentator noted: “The fence is down in twenty places, cattle roam all over the graves and wagons use the main street as a common thoroughfare.” As a result of such criticism, the privately endowed Greenwood Cemetery Association was formed, assumed care and operation of the graveyard and renamed it “Greenwood.”
Around the turn of the century, a tract adjacent to the city’s paupers graveyard was given over to the Order of King’s Daughters, a voluntary organization founded by Dallas activist Virginia Knight Johnson, which provided burials to indigent families.
In 1921 another improvement effort by the Cemetery Association resulted in paving of the streets and repair of some of the oldest headstones. The 1940s saw Dallasites enjoying spring visits to Greenwood to view the 3,000 flowering redbud and 300 white-flowered peach trees. In 1945, Hall Street on the northern boundary was widened and some graves were moved to the interior of the cemetery.
UPTOWN
DALLAS
Public Improvement District
Caption under photograph of William H. Gaston
Credit: State Fair of Texas
William H. Gaston was a banker and real estate promoter who was once described by the Dallas Herald as “most responsible for transformation of Dallas into a city.” He not only gave land for this cemetery, but also donated 80 acres of East Dallas land in 1886 as the site of the State Fair of Texas - now Fair Park.
Contributed on 8/28/15 by gasirek
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Record #: 88276
Location/GPS: View Map